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o2 Upgraded There Network? Orbit 2

Just a quick one for us Orbit 2 owners (or indeed any HSDPA o2 users)
Anyone noticed it seems o2 have upgraded their network?
I seem to be getting HSDPA connections everywhere, where I used to get 3G, 3G where I used to get EDGE and EDGE where I used to get GPRS so everything seems to have gone up a notch.
I don't seem to get GPRS anymore... just EDGE or above.
I only get EDGE at home though although 150-300k EDGE isn't exactly terrible on a PDA for free... and until BT get's their finger out it means 150-300k internet on the PC... what I'm posting this on!
Just quite chuffed!

i'd agree with you...
I've notice that i generally get hs now and i'm certainly noticing the edge symbol a lot more!
my speed has been great since i phoned up and asked to but increased. as suggested on this forum. just done a test this mornibg.
1452kbps Nice!

Yeh Same for me, I used to get only gprs, and occasional 3g, and now im getting Hsdpa pretty much everywhere, which makes youtube on the go brilliant!

Where are you guys from? I'm from Merthyr Tydfil in the south Wales valleys. Bit nervous of changing to O2 yet as I dont know anyone with an O2 phone to check what their 3G coverage is like. According to their website, only Cardiff and Swansea have 3G.

Some parts of Merthyr have 3G. Went up there in the car the other day and got 3G at the VW garage.
Got HSDPA in Abergavenny, but only 2G in Gilwern.
Still only got GPRS in plymouth. Still no HSDPA, but 3G in the city center

DNS resolution has improved markedly in the past fortnight in my opinion. Before I was waiting many seconds to connect to a page (resolve the DNS) but now it is much quicker.

Towserspvm2000 said:
Where are you guys from? I'm from Merthyr Tydfil in the south Wales valleys. Bit nervous of changing to O2 yet as I dont know anyone with an O2 phone to check what their 3G coverage is like. According to their website, only Cardiff and Swansea have 3G.
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Cheshire/Mersyside

Hi. Yes, I have to agree too. Over here in Northern Ireland, my coverage was very poor - only Edge available in Belfast - and I live about 20 miles away. Then about 3 weeks ago, I suddenly started getting 3G, and last week it changed - most of the time - to H. I checked te O2 website, to discover that there wasn't even any H apparently planned for here. Rang O2 to check if it was just a test, but they didn't have a clue.. Surprise, surprise..

Agree'd,
Great in Leicester, locks straight on to H as soon as I'm near... Very fast! And freeeeeee!!
Northamptonshire's main towns are covered, smaller towns are getting there!!

Still no upgrade in speeds here. maxing out around 128kbits/sec. Anyone have any great success with customer services, or is Emma in the Press Office Still the best way to get the upgrade. Has anyone's speed been upgraded without asking?

nothing haappened in Glasgow. If i live in some village with sheeps with nearest shop 15miles away i dont care. But Glasgow??? Probably they dont like weggies :-(

EVDO or 3G ?

Ok, so I have like 5 or so months left before I qualify for upgrade pricing at ATT. Money really isnt as much of an issue as other issues, such as network speed, and device features.
so my questions are:
1) My understanding is that ATT 3G is superior to Sprint's EVDO in terms of speed, assuming the same touch pro device is used. True?
2) I know the device speccs aren't really out yet, but in terms of rumors, I've heard that Verizon will criple their version. Is there any other providers out there doing the same thing?
I was going to get the Europe/Asia versions but since there isn't a way to run it off of the 3G networks here yet, and may never have a way, I was thinking of getting sprint next month, or just plain waiting out for ATT or T-Mobile.
What do you guys think? (sorry if this had been discussed before)

AT&T does not have faster speeds, it says it can do 600 to 1400 kbps down / 500 to 800 kbps upload.
I have never gotten more than 1mbps on AT&T download, i have gotten some pretty good upload though, seemed to average around the mid 700 range.
Sprint, now this depends. Sprint seems to have a lot more 3G coverage than AT&T. They have EVDO and EVDO RevA. I visit a city that has RevA frequently and I have gotten 2.9mbps download and 1.5mbps upload.
That was my average test on speedtest.net
In EVDO areas where they do not have RevA I have gotten about 1.2mbps download and about 500 kbps upload average, which is worse than AT&T.
Another thing to consider is the data plan price.
Sprint has all you can data plan for $15 per month, vs AT&T's 40? 60? I can't remember but it was terrible!
Lots of people complain about sprint in general but I have been very pleased and I do quite a bit of buisness with them. I recommend them.

Bad HAL 9000 said:
AT&T does not have faster speeds, it says it can do 600 to 1400 kbps down / 500 to 800 kbps upload.
I have never gotten more than 1mbps on AT&T download, i have gotten some pretty good upload though, seemed to average around the mid 700 range.
Sprint, now this depends. Sprint seems to have a lot more 3G coverage than AT&T. They have EVDO and EVDO RevA. I visit a city that has RevA frequently and I have gotten 2.9mbps download and 1.5mbps upload.
That was my average test on speedtest.net
In EVDO areas where they do not have RevA I have gotten about 1.2mbps download and about 500 kbps upload average, which is worse than AT&T.
Another thing to consider is the data plan price.
Sprint has all you can data plan for $15 per month, vs AT&T's 40? 60? I can't remember but it was terrible!
Lots of people complain about sprint in general but I have been very pleased and I do quite a bit of buisness with them. I recommend them.
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Thanks for your input. Yeah I'm really leaning towards sprint because of it's "Simply Everything" plan which is $99 for unlimited talk/data. All other networks seem to have unlimited talk for $99 but it doesn't seem to include data.

Bad HAL 9000 said:
AT&T does not have faster speeds, it says it can do 600 to 1400 kbps down / 500 to 800 kbps upload.
I have never gotten more than 1mbps on AT&T download, i have gotten some pretty good upload though, seemed to average around the mid 700 range.
Sprint, now this depends. Sprint seems to have a lot more 3G coverage than AT&T. They have EVDO and EVDO RevA. I visit a city that has RevA frequently and I have gotten 2.9mbps download and 1.5mbps upload.
That was my average test on speedtest.net
In EVDO areas where they do not have RevA I have gotten about 1.2mbps download and about 500 kbps upload average, which is worse than AT&T.
Another thing to consider is the data plan price.
Sprint has all you can data plan for $15 per month, vs AT&T's 40? 60? I can't remember but it was terrible!
Lots of people complain about sprint in general but I have been very pleased and I do quite a bit of buisness with them. I recommend them.
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Where is this "all you can data plan" from Sprint? I am betting they do not offer it for plan changes or new subs anymore.

They sure do, its called 'sprint powervision' or just the 'Data Plan'
Its $15 a month. The only stipulation is that you cannot use your phone as a modem (PAM) without getting charged extra. Although there are plenty of ways around that.

pam not on the everything or the talk/message/data share plan but there should be a workaround on the internet sharing i think u might have to go on ##debug# to do it jus have ur msl ready lol

wait until att has the hsdpa by the end of the year of course only some markets but then its definetly fastest

Bad HAL 9000 said:
I visit a city that has RevA frequently and I have gotten 2.9mbps download and 1.5mbps upload.
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That must be the city of the holy grail, the highest RevA can go to is 3.1 down/1.8 up... So you pretty much have the advertised speeds maxed out, which I've never seen.

My thoughts...
I was an AT&T (previously Cingular, previously T-Mobile) customer for quite a while. I have used GSM almost exclusively for 8 years. I left for CDMA at Sprint entirely because of internet speed. AT&T's 3G coverage is pretty lousy -- at least in the South East where I live. I can get 3G pretty much only in major cities. EVDO is available throughout the entire state of NC (where I live) -- even in rural areas, believe it or not. EVDO Rev A is spottier, but EVDO is fast enough for me.
The throughput is sufficient to sync exchange, play internet radio, browse the web, and download files at the same time. I haven't done speed tests to see exactly what the throughput is, but it "feels" as good as my home DSL service.
Additionally, Sprint's fallback internet, the "1X" service is much faster than AT&T's fallback service, Edge (or worse, GPRS). With 1X, I can still listen to internet radio and browse the web effectively (but not at the same time). With Edge, you can't -- it will skip like crazy. Not to mention that loading web sites and downloading anything takes for-ev-er!
Cost is another consideration. Although it is not published on their website, my data plan is only $15/mo for unlimited data. It does not include Sprint Music, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, or other value-added services like the $30 plan. It's not on their website. You have to call and request the "Sprint PowerVision Basic" plan. The basic plan is mainly for more basic phones, but if you have no interest in the value-added features and just want internet, you can get it on fancier phones as well.
As far as I know, AT&T still only has one unlimited data plan and it's approximately $30/mo.
Until AT&T's 3G service has a wider footprint, I would go with Sprint for data-heavy phone use. Verizon uses the same network as Sprint, but their data plan is $40/mo (around here at least), so they were out of the question for me.

My Wife has AT&T 3G, I have Sprint EVDO Rev A. We often between Texas and Florida. My Sprint service wins hands down. Much better coverage and MUCH faster speed. Two weekends ago we watched an entire football game on my mogul from the back of a car between Ft Laud and Key West with not one glitch. I was streaming the live feed from a server in Texas using Orb. We often do the same between Dallas and Houston. Every time we've tried using her phone the AT&T service can't keep up.

AssassinsLament said:
Ok, so I have like 5 or so months left before I qualify for upgrade pricing at ATT. Money really isnt as much of an issue as other issues, such as network speed, and device features.
so my questions are:
1) My understanding is that ATT 3G is superior to Sprint's EVDO in terms of speed, assuming the same touch pro device is used. True?
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Click to collapse
That is completely FALSE .... the GSM 3g in the US SUCKS ... EVDO is far better ..
Verizon is the fastest ..
Sprint is 2nd. .
at and Tmobile are far slower... and not as widespread..

TheMostToys said:
My Wife has AT&T 3G, I have Sprint EVDO Rev A. We often between Texas and Florida. My Sprint service wins hands down. Much better coverage and MUCH faster speed. Two weekends ago we watched an entire football game on my mogul from the back of a car between Ft Laud and Key West with not one glitch. I was streaming the live feed from a server in Texas using Orb. We often do the same between Dallas and Houston. Every time we've tried using her phone the AT&T service can't keep up.
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I know people that stream Orb on AT&T, and I've used Slingboxes across the continent on AT&T... I think it's more likely that you have a better phone for playing video than what she has. I'm not doubting Sprint's EVDO is faster, but AT&T's network can surely "keep up" with a service like Orb.

For me, Sprint was faster than even Verizon

TheBundo said:
For me, Sprint was faster than even Verizon
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Well, it all depends on location. As I've said many times before, I can't even make a phone call from my house with Sprint or Verizon, so if you could even get data to transfer it would be snail slow. Yet I get around 500kb/s from AT&T in the same area... Go figure.

Which UK carrier for SIM only 30 day monthly?

I just got my Nexus One unsubsidised about a week ago. Although it can apply for other phones I guess, but I'm interested what your thoughts are to the UK residents on here at xda. I don't plan on signing a new 12+ month contract because I want to save it in case some newer phone comes along.
My contract on my T-Mobile Vario 3 (kaiser) ran out over half a year ago and have since changed to a 30 day SIM only plan (Solo 20 on T-Mob). I was thinking of changing to O2 as since it's the UK provider that actually supports EDGE nationally. Well Orange I think supports it too but it's not on a national scale I dont' think. I travel fairly often on the motorway as well as on trains so I figured having EDGE available while I go through some countryside would be nice.
All 4 providers offer 600 mins for £20 a month, but Orange doesn't include internet at all, Voda only 500MB, while O2 and T-Mob offer unlimited (with FUP of course). Going lower than £20 a month none of them offer internet as part of the package, which is the main reason I am on the T-Mob £20 pm package.
My typical usage hovers around 300 mins a month, I rarely text, and I mostly use my phone for surfing (news, mail, occasional social sites). Now here is the dilema. Last week T-Mobile just overhauled their SIM only monthly plans. All their plans now allow a choice of flexible boosters, which includes unlimited internet as 1 of them. The boosters are available to even their £10 100 mins plan as well! I am more interested in their £15 plan with 300 mins and choosing the internet booster.
So the question is, do I stick with T-Mobile and change to their £15 plan, goto O2 for £20 with EDGE support, or maybe even goto Vodafone because they are using gnomes to speed their internet speed that I am not aware of?

Why havent you mentioned 3? They have the best 3g or hsdpa coverage in the country and also offer unlimited data.
Only trouble is their customer service call centre is in India and they arent very helpfull.

Thats a good point. I have totally forgotten about 3 for some reason. The £15 package from 3 looks interesting. But as I understand that 3 only uses UTMS (3g) frequencies and does not support GSM (2g) frequencies? Which is the reason they always say that 2g only phones are never supported.

I am using a Shift on O2, 30 day contract sim only which is 14.99 per month + £7.50 for unlimited data. This works well though HSDPA cells are not as frequent as I'd like them (on the North Kent Coast).
My Touch Pro 2 is on T-Mobile payg. Plenty of HSDPA cells wherever I go and as long as I topup 10/month data is unlimited for the following month. This setup works quite well for me.

3 have 2g roaming with orange. If you can't pick up a 3g signal, then it connects to oranges 2g towers. The sim cards will only work in a phone if it has 3g, but it doesn't need to use 3g, (just costs them more if you dont).

im with o2 on a 30 day rolling contract, its great.
for £20 u get 600 mins 1200 texts (600 double texts and 600 single texts) + i have added the unlimited data bolt-on as my free bolt-on.
go with o2 my friend, i have never had a problem with them

Do you have EDGE working on the O2? As it's one of the main reasons for me considering O2 as I don't like to be stuck on GPRS while around the countryside without a 3G signal.
Well I've finally nailed it down to either O2 or 3. 3 for their biggest 3G coverage or O2 for EDGE (if it's confirmed working that is).

Use O2 on pay as go Text & Web pretty much always HSDPA or 3G coverage when go out in the sticks it flips between GPRS & EDGE.
I moved to T-Mobile when purchased Touch Pro but soon went back to O2 as constant connection problems when surfing and problems with signal dropping out.
3 meant to be good coverage but @ home had to go outside house just to get signal.
Orange are good for signal but absolute bismal on data usage p/m.

Makaijin said:
Do you have EDGE working on the O2? As it's one of the main reasons for me considering O2 as I don't like to be stuck on GPRS while around the countryside without a 3G signal.
Well I've finally nailed it down to either O2 or 3. 3 for their biggest 3G coverage or O2 for EDGE (if it's confirmed working that is).
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EDGE works fine, im rarely in a 3g area so i have to use EDGE and GPRS a lot. both work fine.

OK, went over to my mates this afternoon to borrow his O2 sim, he's currently on the £20 30 day so I had a play with that on my Nexus one. EDGE works great on the N1. My brother has a spare 3 Pay & Go card lying around that he dug out just now. Testing on it now. If you turn off 3G it roams on the Orange network in 2G mode which connects with EDGE as well!
Now I'm even more at a loss. O2 is £20 pm with 600 mins, but its over-minutes charges are 20p a min(same for land, and all mobile networks). 3 has £15 for 300 mins, but it's over-minutes to other mobiles are 40p a min, wtf? But 3 does have unlimited skype calls which my girlfriend might like since she calls back to China a lot. My average useage hovers around 300 mins, but I do go over it a bit sometimes. Do I control my phone useage a little bit for better 3G coverage and free Skype calls? Or go with O2 for a little more flexibility in minutes?
Argh! Which to choose, which to choose...

After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.

Makaijin said:
After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.
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I think that's a good choice, I'm on O2, SIM Only for £20 and I get:
700 mins
1400 texts (MMS is 1:4)
My Choice of Bolt On (currently Web but has been Blackberry sometimes)
ITS included
[I got their January offer which upped the online tariff from 600 mins and 1200 texts]
I moved to O2 because I travel quite a bit and in addition to ITS you get:
Text messages to the UK taken from bundle at the rate of 1:4
MMS messages to the UK taken from bundle at the rate of 1:4
You can buy a data bundle currently 10MB/£20 and 50MB/£50 - better than £7.50 per MB that I had to pay with T-Mobile.
Best of all, if you don't like it you can give notice and move.

edenc said:
I am using a Shift on O2, 30 day contract sim only which is 14.99 per month + £7.50 for unlimited data. This works well though HSDPA cells are not as frequent as I'd like them (on the North Kent Coast).
My Touch Pro 2 is on T-Mobile payg. Plenty of HSDPA cells wherever I go and as long as I topup 10/month data is unlimited for the following month. This setup works quite well for me.
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Wouldn't you be better off moving to their £20 per month tariff?

DuoM said:
Wouldn't you be better off moving to their £20 per month tariff?
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Only valid reason for his choice would be that he's using a different inclusive Bolt-On, like unlimited O2 to O2 calls, or maybe unlimited weekend calls? Having just checked, things like unlimited internet can be paid extras whereas things like unlimited O2 to O2 you can only take up with your inclusive Bolt-On.

Makaijin said:
Only valid reason for his choice would be that he's using a different inclusive Bolt-On, like unlimited O2 to O2 calls, or maybe unlimited weekend calls? Having just checked, things like unlimited internet can be paid extras whereas things like unlimited O2 to O2 you can only take up with your inclusive Bolt-On.
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Ahh, yes. Good point.
Thanks

Well, just to keep this thread alive, yesteday Vodafone just updated some of their 30 day plans. One interesting plan is a £25 pm plan that comes with 1GB internet and WiFi with BT Openzone.
With 4 of the major providers updating their plans since January, it'll interesting what Orange will come up with if they do update their packages.
Ah, the wonders of 30 day contracts.

Makaijin said:
Well, just to keep this thread alive, yesteday Vodafone just updated some of their 30 day plans. One interesting plan is a £25 pm plan that comes with 1GB internet and WiFi with BT Openzone.
With 4 of the major providers updating their plans since January, it'll interesting what Orange will come up with if they do update their packages.
Ah, the wonders of 30 day contracts.
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Click to collapse
That 1GB plan looks like an iPhone plan. I asked them about their contract plans with 1GB data, etc last month and they said that you could only get them with an iPhone but since these are SIM Only it should be possible to use them with any phone (unless Vodafone try and restrict the device somehow).

Makaijin said:
After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.
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Click to collapse
You do realise that all "Free Skype Calls" means is that they allow you to use the internet freely to make skype to skype calls using their app?
You'll get the same on o2 seeing as how you're getting an internet bolt on, all you need to do is get a Skype app.

Actually no. The 3 version of the skype app actually dials out a number and doesn't connect via 3G internet nor via wifi if it's available. It reroutes the voice data using a voice connection within the 3 network. The IM portion of skype still uses the 3G data network though. According to my brother, using skype voice via 3 is a really good experience. You don't get drop-outs at all, unlike when you are in a car travelling and it switches cells and/or the connection switches between HSDPA and EDGE etc. Plus all other 4 major carriers have ToC's explicitly restricting VoIP use, although none of them actively block out VoIP apps atm.

Tmobile vs At&t

new to android... currently using N1 on att edge... contemplating a switch to Tmobile... latest "speed tests" by PC World show ATT as a clear leader for download speeds, plus they have better spectrum and in my exp. allow better penetration though walls. I live in seattle but travel to many major cities on east coast... anyone offer any suggestions with their exp with Tmob vs. ATT? How biased is Pcworld?
My goal is the use the N1 on ATT until they get a proper android device... couple months I hope, or do I switch now and save the trouble...any advice would be appreciated

tmobile and att both have their ups and down
but tmobile now clearly has AMAZINGLY BETTER unlimited min data and text plans for a very low low LOW price
check it out
not a tmobile rep lol
just a very long time tmo user
and tmo's 3g aint that bad
i dont notice any problems with it

thanks for the reply
yeah im aware of the potential $$ savings, however for me that is not the case...im more looking into who will provide the best speeds/least amount of hassle over the next year or so...i have few friends who work at ATT store who are managers, and I can always get anything done to my account I need to...
I understand Tmobile has "great" service, but my experience with them both online and in the stores has been horrible. The sales reps Ive spoken with at several stores have been sorely uninformed and have outright lied to my (by making up answers that are not true about many things, so probably not malicious lies but if you dont know TELL ME!). The latest episode was when a sales rep told me that they would be carrying the HTC Desire in April, and that It will have a physical keyboard and dual core processor!
in my area, as posted by pcworld, ATT completely smokes tmobile in average DL speeds (1400vs 900)... plus im able to pay $60 a month right now and have everything i need..granted i am stuck on att edge with my n1, but its not as bad as i thought...my plan was to keep the phone until att finally got one, but their whole "backflip" ordeal has left me concerned with their openness to google... I love my N1, even the trackball, and would be hard pressed to pick a desire over it... Im rambling now so Ill stop, but last point is that i would have to cancel my att contract, which at only $175 isnt that bad, considering i just last month bought a 3gs for $220 and sold it for $530...

T-Mo this summer is going to smoke AT&T as the fastest 3g network.But as far as coverage AT&T is a little better,plus is true that lower frequency is better penetrating to buildings,that's one problem i'm dealing now with T-Mo,but the price is right,so I guess at the end you have to look for the best one for your needs.

tmobile plans
just talked with a very knowledgeable Tmobile reap... apparently seattle is #11 to receive fiber upgrades, and will receive HSPA+ around may 18th... of course this is all hearsay... they will also be selling HD2s for BOGO $199 contract... amazing deal... very nice phone, they had one today I was able to play with. Perfect size for me... just waiting for a more perfect android port and ill make the switch from nexus one...
just ported my number to tmobile today...hopefully i wont be disappointed

ieon said:
just talked with a very knowledgeable Tmobile reap... apparently seattle is #11 to receive fiber upgrades, and will receive HSPA+ around may 18th... of course this is all hearsay... they will also be selling HD2s for BOGO $199 contract... amazing deal... very nice phone, they had one today I was able to play with. Perfect size for me... just waiting for a more perfect android port and ill make the switch from nexus one...
just ported my number to tmobile today...hopefully i wont be disappointed
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Click to collapse
Did you talk to a rep online? Or was it a friend or something? I would LOVE to have some more info on St. Louis expansion further southward and any other plans in the area. I'm currently on AT&T about 10 miles outside T-Mo's 3G bubble. I have AT&T 3G since last October, but am using an ADP1, since my unlocked Roger's Dream broke. I think I am going to switch to T-Mo when I get my free Nexus, but I would love to have 3G.
Anyway, the point is where'd you get the info, and if you can find out anything about St. Louis from that rep (if its in person, if not tell me its online I'll try some more).
K thx bye
Lol just playin, but thanks. Please let me know

Here in vegas t-mo 3g speeds are better then AT&T so TMo was the clear choice for me. The fastest 3g speeds in town here though are with verizon
We tested using 4 phones:
Tmobile G1
Tmobile MyTouch 3g
Verizon Blackberry
At&T Iphone
The results were pretty staggering:
Tmobile G1 - 970kbps
Tmobile MyTouch 3g - 1023 kbps
Verizon Blackberry - 1876 kbps
At&T Iphone - 200 kbps

Funny noone mentioned sprint. You, being number for reliability and all that.

T-Mobile FTW!
I live in the Bay Area and I have done several speed test all over with both an iPhone 3GS and Nexus One. For the most part AT&T gets around 1400-2400 kbps down and about 200-300 kbps up with a 1000-3000ms ping. T-Mobile gets about 1000-1500 kbps down and 300-600 kbps up with a 60-100ms ping. In most cases AT&T does get slightly faster speeds and has more 3G coverage but is not as reliable. Sometimes the data connection disappears or takes forever to start loading. Once both phone do start loading there isn't much difference loading web sites. As far as downloading files AT&T is slightly faster but doesn't seem to have the bandwidth that T-Mobile when downloading multiple files at the same time. I used to be a long time customer of AT&T but got fed up paying $100/month for data/texting/voice and getting unreliable data service where I work (Financial District - San Francisco). Personally I would recommend that anyone who is on the fence to go with T-Mobile. They don't have perfect service but for the price its a much better value than AT&T. I haven't had any problems or issues besides a few select areas with poor 3G reception since I have switched to T-Mobile.
Cities tested:
Concord/Walnut Creek Area: Both worked really well. AT&T what quite a bit faster in speed tests but loading regular web sites was about the same.
Marin: AT&T = Good - Some areas get dropped calls and no 3G | T-Mobile works good as well. Some areas get poor reception for 3G and Edge | Speeds are about the same... AT&T is slightly faster. (Lots of testing)
Pleasonton: Both worked really well. (Limited testing)
San Francisco: AT&T = Horrible... didn't work at all in my building with full 3G | T-Mobile works great... works perfect in the same place AT&T didn't | Speeds are about the same... when AT&T works.
Vallejo: About the same as Marin.
Hope this helps,
- Victor

neoelectrex said:
Funny noone mentioned sprint. You, being number for reliability and all that.
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The reason is that OP has a GSM device and Sprint is CDMA...

T-Mobile because AT&T network is lame. They actually told their iFail users to don't use internet as much because of their weak ass network and they are locking down their android phones so T-Mobile wins of course.

Sigh
Ok Ok I know location plays a huge part in this but let me say this, AT&T is 100% trash compared to Tmobile (based on New Jersey), They pay millions to say they cover 97% of US and they have the fastest 3G in the US. When? 8 Years AGO? I did a test with my friends iphone 3GS (new Jersey) with an app called SPEEDTEST, also did the same test (SAME PLACE MY HOUSE NJ) with the same exact APP SPEED TEST on my nexus one,
Results
Iphone3GS AT&T = 99kbits/sec (test was done 2 times each.) Similar results he was pinging about 4000-5000
Nexus one Tmobile = 1,740Kbits/sec (test was done 2 times each.) Similar results I was pinging about 88=97
I then tested my 2G (same place + same app) = 210kbits/s
This means my 2g was faster than his so called 3G, funny thing is, his iphone 3GS doesnt even say when its on Edge or 3G, My nexus one says when its on Edge (2G), 3G Or HSPDA (which I'm on all day HSPDA full bars in NJ). DO NOT FORGET HOW TRAFFIC IMPACTS A NETWORK, it's horrible. You are paying more, you have worse call quality (both network and phone) considering the 2 microphones of the N1 and clarity of Tmobile. So you pay more? Do less, both apple and AT&T limit you, and you have the nerve to compare? Apple is ditching AT&T for few reasons, 1 of them being 30% dropped calls in major cities, and allowing android phones (better phones) than Iphone on their exclusive network.
My point? Why the hell would you pay more and get less? Not only get less, but slower, and sloppier? The comparison boggles my mind, Maybe Tmobile doens't cover as much, this is a fact as well, but man check their coverage map and see if its available in your area, because it's way better in every possible way.
My plan is 500 minutes with everything else unlimited (mobile to mobile, text, data, weekends, nights) Most the people I speak with have tmobile, so I never even go past 200 minutes ever. This costs me 65.34 a month after taxes and I use my nexus one every hour of the day literally. if you want the pictures to my tests, I'm glad to show my proof, email me at [email protected] or go to my youtube page and see my nexus one vids. I'll be uploading some videos when my friend returns to my house, yes speeds vary even by the day or hour due to traffic, but I'm normally getting over 1mbit/s all day long, he gets very bad lag in his network, he pays 120 a month which is about twice what I pay and his calling/data/all around sucks. Why argue? why bother? I've asked my friends with nexus one in jersey city to test his network and it's almost as fast as mine, so i'm not in luck here, tmobile simply rocks after their network upgrade december 2009, don't forget they'll be doing another upgrade for intense speeds before 2010 ends.
Signing off Gslick, email me for pictures of the tests.
Youtube chan with my rooted nexus one = www.youtube.com/user/exclusivegslick might as well sub if you like the phone and/or android.

i am in columbus area and here tmobile 3G is bad, i dont get 3G at all in my house.
i have a iphone 3gs and it gets 3G coverage everywhere.
as soon as i get off the highway 3g bars with tmobile starts going down.
the funny thing is that even in tmobile store i get EDGE with tmobile phones and the att 3gs gets 3G
and no i donot work with att.
my advice check 3G coverage to whatever city you travel the most.
i would go with mediocre 3G speed but better coverage, instead of blazing fast 3G with no coverage

This all depends on where you live and what type of service quality you are looking for.... I've heard ATT and T-Mobile trashed on forums for various reasons.
I live in Austin, Texas, USA... I can't speak for data service as I'm using a T-Mobile frequency G1 on ATT network - so, I'm restricted to Edge data service.
However, my wife has several friends who are on T-mobile and they constantly drop calls. Which DOES NOT happen to us on ATT. Also, ATT has MUCH better reception in the rural areas where I work than T-Mobile (which is VERY spotty in the rural areas).
So, my wife and I refuse to leave ATT for now. Despite my near clinical depression over not being able to upgrade my G1!
Data may or may not be better for T-mobile in the urban area here - I don't know.
I would check with your friends and family who travel the same areas that you do - who also have service with both carriers and have decent phones.
The claims from store reps will almost always be biased - however, if you have a friend who is a store rep who will give you an honest opinion - I would ask them what kind of complaints they hear "in store" regarding the other carriers.
Don't just take someone else's word from a post on this forum if that person DOES NOT live in your area - as they could have a completely different experience and the carriers' infrastructure could be very different.

jongie123 said:
T-Mo this summer is going to smoke AT&T as the fastest 3g network.But as far as coverage AT&T is a little better,plus is true that lower frequency is better penetrating to buildings,that's one problem i'm dealing now with T-Mo,but the price is right,so I guess at the end you have to look for the best one for your needs.
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AT&T coverage is not a little better than T-MO, it's a lot better, for both data and voice.
I have no idea what make anyone think T-MO America, who is in dire financial straits right now, has the money to keep up with AT&T's massive mobile network build-out. The truth is, they can't. AT&T has steadily been improving backhaul and connection speeds, is getting ready for 4G deployment and has that capacity in place in many places already.
AT&T's network has been improving faster than anyone else's, and that's why they currently have the fastest 3G speeds on the nation's #2 3G network for coverage. But they are far from done, and any competitor who thinks they're sitting still to be leapfrogged had better be prepared to spend a boatload of money to build, because AT&T is. T-MO just does not have the resources (revenue) to keep up.

Gslick said:
Ok Ok I know location plays a huge part in this but let me say this, AT&T is 100% trash compared to Tmobile (based on New Jersey), They pay millions to say they cover 97% of US and they have the fastest 3G in the US. When? 8 Years AGO?
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You're talking out your butthole, pure and simple. Your narrow view of the network is a paradigm child of your limited experience with it. It's nothing more than crap folklore.

Wow, I live in Lewiston, ID. There isn't much around here and I have hit 3.5mb down and 1mb up with my Hero. For some reason lately I can't hit Liberty Lake with Speedtest. Is a couple hours away up by Spokane WA. For some reason it thinks I am 45mi away from Wichita, KS. Still hit almost 2.97mb down and 1.07mb up with a 348 ping.

some ppl. here are getting biased here.
for me i live in columbus and i bought the HD2 was waiting for it for months if not longer, but was sooooooo disappointed when i got it really bad 3G, next to nothing.
call quality soooooo bad, many ppl. are saying that its the HD2 thats at fault.
but i dont know, i have a 3GS in the house and that gets 3G even in tmobile store where the HD2 didnt
so i will think twice before taking tmobile in the future, asleast FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE IN COLUMBUS.
thats my personal experience, i cannot speak for other US cities or locations.

UberMario said:
T-Mobile because AT&T network is lame. They actually told their iFail users to don't use internet as much because of their weak ass network and they are locking down their android phones so T-Mobile wins of course.
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That's a complete load of crap. It's an outright lie. Maybe you didn't start it, but it's still a lie.

geronemo said:
some ppl. here are getting biased here.
for me i live in columbus and i bought the HD2 was waiting for it for months if not longer, but was sooooooo disappointed when i got it really bad 3G, next to nothing.
call quality soooooo bad, many ppl. are saying that its the HD2 thats at fault.
but i dont know, i have a 3GS in the house and that gets 3G even in tmobile store where the HD2 didnt
so i will think twice before taking tmobile in the future, asleast FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE IN COLUMBUS.
thats my personal experience, i cannot speak for other US cities or locations.
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Columbus, OHIO- right? I live in the upper left corner of Ohio (Williams County) and want to get a nexus one. However, everyone I know has Verizon. I am sick of waiting so I am going to get one now. According to tmobile's and att's websites, att has the better coverage. I was also considering the palm pre plus ($50 bucks for two!), but I want the sexy nexus one.

[Q] Question about vodafone uk

What's vodafone uk like for updates? I've no experience with them though I can't see them any worse than tmob. Colchester vodafone have 8 in store with only one purchase today... really tempted but not sure about their service and signal
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Barff1984 said:
What's vodafone uk like for updates? I've no experience with them though I can't see them any worse than tmob. Colchester vodafone have 8 in store with only one purchase today... really tempted but not sure about their service and signal
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Been a long time since I used Vodafone so I can't really comment on their service but if you are interested in signal why don't you do what I did and get yourself a PAYG SIM and test it out? I put £10 on the card and that got me free Internet for the month plus I still had my £10.

Because I don't have the patience Lol
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Barff1984 said:
Because I don't have the patience Lol
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
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Lol. Well after going from bad with T-Mobile to atrocious with O2 I'm taking the time to test things out this time.

In terms of signal, Vodafone give you 7 days from the date of receiving your phone to test the signal and you can return the phone and cancel your contract within that time if you're not happy. I have been told this in store, and also via a salesperson using online chat via their website.
I've just gone from T-Mobile to Vodafone, and already I can tell that's it's a better service. Better signal at home, and a "H" symbol in my status bar more of the time.

sjgore said:
In terms of signal, Vodafone give you 7 days from the date of receiving your phone to test the signal and you can return the phone and cancel your contract within that time if you're not happy. I have been told this in store, and also via a salesperson using online chat via their website.
I've just gone from T-Mobile to Vodafone, and already I can tell that's it's a better service. Better signal at home, and a "H" symbol in my status bar more of the time.
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that's a good sign then. Still don't want to have to rely on voda for updates though. But after checking my local's stock, looks like they're branded.
I guess i'm covering all angles because i imagine this phone is going to be locked for a few months before we can start to root it.

They were the fastest to update the desire to 2.2, and have just entered a partnership with google, htc, samsung, sprint verizon and other manufacturers to provide updates for 18 months after released, announced at google io, as far as I saw the only uk network to do so.
Got my sgs2 on vodafone and I get h+ almost everywhere I go.
Best network as far as I'm concerned.
Swyped from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Good thread. Guys, how's your reception inside the buildings? I mean ones with metal carcass and concrete, like supermarkets, warehouses etc? I don't care about 3g IN the buildings as i have access to wifi, but ANY signal is a must. Thanks.
P.S. Currently with 3uk, and i can't fault them, always treated me well, and had decent signal, but for a few months now loosing reception at work and in certain buildings.

tinky1 said:
P.S. Currently with 3uk, and i can't fault them, always treated me well, and had decent signal, but for a few months now loosing reception at work and in certain buildings.
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Three started turning off their 2G fallback to the Orange network late last year in areas where they believed that their 3G network was strong enough so that could be the cause of your problem.
In addition Orange and T-Mobile are now working to combine their networks and they are switching off transmitters where they believe they have adequate coverage from one network.
They should be doing this for 2G transmitters at the moment and it could be that the Orange 2G fallback transmitter that Three was using is simply no longer functioning in the area where you work.
I think that Orange and T-Mobile will combine their 3G networks sometime this year and then start switching off 3G transmitters too. Three and T-Mobile have a 3G network sharing agreement but at the moment it doesn't extend to Orange and Three so that could put Three in a worse position once it happens since an Orange 3G mast could replace a T-Mobile one.
There is a possibility that all three networks will combine their assets to produce a single 3G network infrastructure but I haven't seen anything about that yet. Without such an agreement, once the consolidation is over, T-Mobile should emerge with the best network of the three since in addition to it's own network it will have a 2G and 3G sharing agreement with Orange plus a 3G sharing agreement with Three.

DuoM said:
Three started turning off their 2G fallback to the Orange network late last year in areas where they believed that their 3G network was strong enough so that could be the cause of your problem.
In addition Orange and T-Mobile are now working to combine their networks and they are switching off transmitters where they believe they have adequate coverage from one network.
They should be doing this for 2G transmitters at the moment and it could be that the Orange 2G fallback transmitter that Three was using is simply no longer functioning in the area where you work.
I think that Orange and T-Mobile will combine their 3G networks sometime this year and then start switching off 3G transmitters too. Three and T-Mobile have a 3G network sharing agreement but at the moment it doesn't extend to Orange and Three so that could put Three in a worse position once it happens since an Orange 3G mast could replace a T-Mobile one.
There is a possibility that all three networks will combine their assets to produce a single 3G network infrastructure but I haven't seen anything about that yet. Without such an agreement, once the consolidation is over, T-Mobile should emerge with the best network of the three since in addition to it's own network it will have a 2G and 3G sharing agreement with Orange plus a 3G sharing agreement with Three.
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If you are affected by this either at home or at work you should call them up and see what they can do for you.

I have. So far got nowhere, they are asking for 99 pounds to terminate contract. Don't think its fair, as I loose reception when I need it most ie when not with the family. Waiting for reply from exec office. I know about Orange agreement they have. They indeed turned off roaming in my area late last year, but reception was still ok'ish, at least I didn't loose it completely. Then early this year I started experiencing problems.
Going to networks again. I does look like T-Mobile is going to have best coverage, but that's on paper, as you know in reality reception can be affected by many factors. My next provider is going to be either O2, voda or T-Mobile as all of them have 2g which has better penetration of the buildings. Hmmm, tough one....
DuoM said:
If you are affected by this either at home or at work you should call them up and see what they can do for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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tinky1 said:
I have. So far got nowhere, they are asking for 99 pounds to terminate contract. Don't think its fair, as I loose reception when I need it most ie when not with the family. Waiting for reply from exec office. I know about Orange agreement they have. They indeed turned off roaming in my area late last year, but reception was still ok'ish, at least I didn't loose it completely. Then early this year I started experiencing problems.
Going to networks again. I does look like T-Mobile is going to have best coverage, but that's on paper, as you know in reality reception can be affected by many factors. My next provider is going to be either O2, voda or T-Mobile as all of them have 2g which has better penetration of the buildings. Hmmm, tough one....
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That doesn't sound fair at all. I would have expected them to allow you to terminate your contract or offer you compensation if you decided to stay with them (or a signal booster). I hope you can sort something out with them.
I forgot that we are in Q2 already and from what I can see the 3G merger is well underway and this includes shutting down 3G transmitters where others cover the same area. It could be that you were using a T-Mobile transmitter at work before and now you are using a Three or T-Mobile transmitter that doesn't penetrate as well due to distance or whatever.
As for networks in general I only meant that it looks like T-Mobile will have the best network out of Three, Orange and T-Mobile. I don't know about Vodafone and O2 although I can say that my experience with O2 has been pretty dismal overall (apart from the deal I got).
O2 problems I (and others) have experienced include the phones not ringing for 1/2 -> 2/3 of the of the period that the caller hears them ringing for, calls being sent to voicemail or callers being told that they cannot be connected and then not being given the option of going to voicemail even though the phone is sitting there with full connectivity (e.g. I can then make calls and I have full data connectivity and can download at 2.5 Mbps). I think they have general network capacity problems. For me, with O2, data is poor voice is worse.
I started testing a Three SIM last night and it seems about as good as T-Mobile in my house for data downloads (poor) but with strangely fast for uploads; plus it stays on HSDPA all the time while the T-Mobile SIM flips between 3G and HSDPA meaning that the data flow keeps pausing on T-Mobile but not on Three. Signal strength appears to be the same though but it just works better on Three. So now I just have Orange to go. The problem with choosing any of those three is that things could change tomorrow as Orange and T-Mobile adjust their networks and if I choose the strongest of the three I could suddenly end up in a worse position.
EDIT: I forgot to add that so far Vodafone have been head and shoulders above the other networks in my testing.

For the original poster. Voda siginal used to be good in colchester, but i moved to tmobile and they are better still, especially now they use orange too.
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